September 09, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Over 23,000 speed camera violations on North Broad Street were deemed invalid due to missing signage about the speed limit and enforcement at one intersection in North Philly earlier this year. The Philadelphia Parking Authority issued more than $1.25 million in refunds and voided tickets that were not yet paid.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority refunded more than $1.25 million worth of speeding tickets and voided thousands of additional violations on North Broad Street due to missing signage at one location earlier this year, officials said.
PPA disclosed the refunds in an annual report on its automated speed camera program, which primarily covers Roosevelt Boulevard and a stretch of North Broad Street that was equipped with enforcement cameras last year.
The voided tickets stem from an issue discovered in January on the 6500 block of North Broad Street in Oak Lane. Signs displaying the street's 25 mph speed limit and the use of speed cameras for enforcement were missing from the intersection.
"After a private construction company working along Broad Street inadvertently knocked down one of the PPA's photo enforcement signs, we proactively cancelled all tickets issued while the sign was down, even though the tickets were otherwise valid," PPA spokesperson Martin O'Rourke said.
PPA's report says the missing sign was reported, but reinstallation was delayed due to winter weather and construction in the area. Despite the holdup, the enforcement camera was not shut off until April 22. During the intervening months, the camera racked up a total of 23,195 violations that would have otherwise been valid if the sign had been displayed.
Payments were processed on 12,214 invalid violations, totaling $1,252,800 in fines. Vehicle owners were notified of the error by mail and told that they would be refunded using the original payment methods on record. All remaining violations with unpaid fines were voided. Signage was reinstalled on April 29.
PPA said it has since updated its procedures to prevent a similar problem from occurring in the future.
PPA started speed camera enforcement on Roosevelt Boulevard in 2020, crediting the program with a 95% reduction in violations on that 12-mile stretch since the first month the cameras were activated. The latest annual report is the first to include data from Broad Street, where 31 speed cameras operate at 15 sites along a roughly 13-mile stretch.
Drivers on Broad Street who are captured going 11-19 mph over the 25 mph speed limit receive $100 fines in the mail. The fine is $125 for drivers who exceed the speed limit by 20-29 mph and $150 for those caught driving 30 mph or more above the speed limit.
The Broad Street cameras were activated in September 2025, but drivers were given a 60-day warning period during which violation notices did not include fines. Violations peaked during the warning period with 213,057 recorded in October 2025. Once PPA started doling out fines in November, violations plummeted. PPA only reported data through March 2026, covering roughly four full months of violation. There were 70,498 violations in March.
"We have seen a 67% reduction in speeding violations on Broad Street in only four months," O'Rourke said.
The vast majority of Broad Street violations were issued to people traveling 11-19 mph above the speed limit. During the period with available data, nearly 759,000 fines were issued for $100. More than 39,000 violations were issued to drivers traveling 20-29 mph above the speed limit, while 1,250 violations were issued to people going between 30-49 mph above the speed limit.
Roughly 59% of the violations on Broad Street were attributed to drivers with vehicles registered in Philadelphia. Drivers from New Jersey accounted for about 9% of violations. Drivers from surrounding ZIP codes in Montgomery County recorded about 8% of violations. Pennsylvania drivers made up about 87% of all violations on Broad Street.
Fines collected from speeding violations support maintenance of the program and a range of PennDOT-led traffic safety and transportation upgrades.
In April, PennDOT activated more speed cameras along a stretch of U.S. Route 13 in Northeast Philly. Those cameras are now being used to issue violations. Additional cameras were activated last month on another stretch U.S. Route 13 that runs through West and North Philadelphia. The warning period for those cameras ends Oct. 30.
The city also has identified state routes 2016 (Allegheny Avenue), 1004 (Erie and Torresdale avenues) and 2001 (Christopher Columbus Boulevard, Delaware Avenue and Moyamensing Avenue) as preferred corridors for future expansion of the speed-camera program.
